Gone
by Deviousanonymous
Summary: Your name is Karkat Vantas. It has been a couple months since your father has mysteriously disappeared. With the help of some friends, Miss Pyrope, and your godfather, you try to find the truth of what happened. (Humanstuck, language warning)
1. Chapter 1

You lay in your bed, staring at the ceiling on this midsummer day. Everything around the house had been so lazy. Kankri was on his Tumblr all morning, and probably still going strong. Your father was in his study, most likely working on something. It was a little strange to you that for the longest time, Miss Pyrope had been a frequent visitor of you father's. Neither you, Kankri, or her daughters knew why Pyrope continued to come over and disappear into his study with him. However, today he was alone.

You turn to your side and make a motion to grab your phone. That's when you hear a loud crash. Your heart pounds as you leap out of your bed and make a mad dash to the study downstairs. You want to see him, you want to see him, you need to see him! It is hard to breath, your running doesn't seem to be taking you anywhere, only endless stairs until finally a door appeared in front of you. This is not where the door to the study usually is, but it doesn't matter, you throw open the door. Your father is gone. Just his lonely study without a trace of him. Only broken glass from the window.

"Why are you telling me this." You sit on the bus with your best friend, Sollux Captor. He seems to be paying more attention to his phone.

"Um, wow, I tell you about this super emotional dream I have about my Dad who's been missing for four months, and you're on your phone. Wow Sollux, just wow." You growl with a roll of your eyes. With a sigh, Sollux puts his phone down and pushes his red and blue glasses up.

"You've been talking non-stop about this. Look, I get it. If one of my dads disappeared or got kidnapped, or whatever the hell happened, I would be upset too. But you should stop thinking about it so much. Besides, Latula and TZ's mom's helping in the search. Apparently she's the best policewoman in town, so there you go." His dark eyes returned to his phone screen. You sit slumped in your seat.

"You know, for a while I thought that Pyrope kept coming over because there was a thing between them, you know? But that's crazy, right?" Sollux shrugs at you. "I mean, my mom died when I was little, then his girlfriend was put in jail...I guess they broke up after that? I don't know. I guess he would be considered single." You ponder this aloud until the bus stops in front of the school. Sollux puts his phone away and looks to his brother in the front of the bus. Mituna Captor had long, messy, black hair that covered his eyes. He was sitting by himself with his head against the wall of the bus.

"I'm gonna walk with my Bro until we find Latula. We'll talk in CP." He got out of the seat and casually walked to his brother who greeted him with a large smile. No one let's you infront of them in the line to get off the bus, but your own brother.

"And that's what I think you should do about your situation." Kankri had most likely been talking Rufioh Nitram's ear off the entire bus ride about something. People should know better than to ask your brother for advice or ask him anything at all. Once off the bus, Rufioh gives an awkward smile and utters "Thanks" before going into the school.

"What was that all about?" You ask. Kankri fixes his brown hair and looks at you.

"I'm not at liberty to say." He then turned with a huff into the school.

On your way to homeroom, you are playfully tripped by Terezi Pyrope. You stumble and glare at her.

"Stop tripping me!" You say.

"How would I know where to put my foot? I'm blind, remember?" She cackles. With a glare you try to continue walking without her, however she follows behind.

"Oh, Karkat, you know I'm messing around. You're so adorable when you're all pissy." Terezi walks with her dragon head cane proudly next to you. "Isn't that one guy your dad now...you know the one who kept getting arrested for various forms of assault?"

"Jack's fine. I mean, he's my godfather , he's gotta have something good about him that made my dad trust him. And he's not my dad! He's just Jack. " you adjust your backpack straps as you speak. Terezi shrugged.

"Mom says she wouldn't trust him with a responsibility like this."

"The only thing he does is have his friends over and play poker. He goes out a lot with them, but that's hardly anything to worry about."

"Whatever, we'll talk later. Say hi to Dave for me." She gave a wicked smile and disappeared into her homeroom. You sigh from annoyance. The relationship you have with Terezi truly is a complicated one. She is a close friend, but you have strong feelings for her. Not to mention she is dating a friend of yours. You walk into your own homeroom and sit next to him.

"Terezi says hi." You grumble. Dave has a single earbud in, and appears to be drawing something.

"Cool." You can't believe this guy, Terezi sure knows how to pick them.

"We're hanging out tonight. Gonna build some dope pillow forts together. I mean, she's blind, but man can she make a good pillow fort. If the president wanted to trade the white house in for a colorful, awesome fucking pillow fort, all he'd have to do is call her up." Dave does not lift his eyes from his shitty drawings.

"Don't you work on Wednesdays?" You glare.

"Some chick is working my time for me. She asked if she could. I mean, I only got a job at Starbucks as a joke. I don't really need the money." He laughs and looks at you through his aviators. "Man, this comic would make Bro proud." The bell rang and Dave got up and grabbed his small backpack.

"Yo, Karkat, you should come over this weekend. John and me are hanging out ." You grumble out a "I'll see" and leave. You know you shouldn't be acting so hostile with Dave, since he never really knew of your feelings for Terezi. You consider the offer as you walk to your first period class which happens to be Language Arts.

The only person you are friends with in that class is Gamzee Makara. He is known to be a stoner. You bounce feelings off of eachother, and he is pretty much the most emotionally receptive of your friends. You yell at him a lot about various things, but he usually doesn't care. You sit next to him as the teacher readies herself for class. Gamzee looks at you with a grin.

"Hey, best friend."

"Hey Gamzee."

"You still havin' troubles with you-know-who?"

"I don't want to talk about it here."

"Bro, we should totally hang out tonight! "


	2. Chapter 2

(Author's note:Hello! I just wanted to apologize for the worst transition of chapters in the history of mankind. I am very sorry. Carry on.)

You decide to walk to Gamzee's house. Even though you know where it is, you have never been in his house. You knew it was on the beach which was a couple blocks away near where Feferi and Eridan lived. Mr. Makara worked for Feferi's mother, Candace Peixes. Since Mrs. Peixes owned a very popular baking goods company, this meant that since Gamzee's father helped her with this business, he is also very rich. You do not know, however, exactly what his job is. You find your way to his house. The outside looked normal enough. It was simply a large house, that did not look near as fancy as its neighbors.

You make your way to the front door and knock three times. The door opened, revealing a figure much taller than you. He had long, messy hair like Gamzee, and wore a sweatshirt that was the design of a skeleton. He wore clown makeup, much like how Gamzee did when he wasn't in school. You assumed that this was Gamzee's older brother, Kurloz.

"Hey...can I come in, I'm here to hang out with Gamzee." Kurloz simply smiles and steps to the side to let you in. You walk in and take your first glance of what appears to be the living room. The television is turned on to an odd show where some clown is preaching something loudly to an audience. The walls were painted dark, however it seemed as though the two boys went a little crazy in spray painting these walls with various smiley faces and other things. The floor was littered in different colored blankets, as well as the couch. Kurloz returns to where he was sitting in front of the television before you had arrived.

"Er...where's Gamzee?" You ask. He says nothing, he just points down a hallway. Cautiously, you follow down to the door at the very end. You can see that this one is his, because in purple paint he had written his name sloppily. You walk in to see him laying on his bed. The room looked messier than the living room. Posters of clowns hung around the room, juggling clubs and horns scattered across the floor, however he strangely had his bed made.

"Did a hurricane go through here, or is your house usually this fucked up?" You scold. He sat up and grinned, now wearing his makeup.

"Nah, bro. This is just how we like it. We think the house should represent our hearts, you know?" You grimace a little. Your father would not stand for a house this messy, neither would Kankri. He sees your disapproval and simply shrugs it off with a casual smile.

"You have any news on your dad?" He asked. You sit next to him and sigh.

"No. Officer Pyrope acts like she knows something, but she won't tell any of us about it for some reason. I've been having non-stop dreams about how he went missing. It's stupid though. Dreams won't help shit, they're fucking useless." Gamzee shook his head and touched your brown hair.

"It could be a motherfucking sign. A miracle waiting to happen. Your pa'll come home soon."

"Miracles are total bullshit. Nothing like that happens in the real world. Bad things happen and it sucks, there's nothing out there saying: 'Hey! Look, you've got enough to deal with, so I'll let this one go.' " you growl.

"Hear me out, man. Like last week, I barely see my dad, and when I do he's always motuerfuckin' busy. But he came home and watched t.v. with us. That was a miracle."

"That Peixes chick must've just let him off work. That's not a miracle, it's a day off."

"Haha, okay bro, whatever you say." He laughed you off and stood up. Gamzee walked to his messy desk on the other side of the room and pulled a bag of this slimey green stuff. You raise an eyebrow.

"What the hell his that?" You question. With a grin, he looks at you and opens his bag.

"My dad brings this stuff home. It all up and calms your mind, chills you out. Gets rid of all that wicked stress that bothers yah. People're arguin' over of they can sell this shit to people who got nightmares. Dad calls it Sopor." Gamzee sticks his pointer and ring finger into the bag and puts them in his mouth.

"So...they're drugs. Illegal drugs. And your dad gives you these illegal drugs?" You say with an abhorred look on your face. He looks away, however not shamefully.

"You've been havin' nightmares about your dad. If you need to shred that motherfucking stress up, I can share. 'Cause you know you're my best friend." You grumble a little bit at his offer.

"I wouldn't eat that shit if my life depended on it. I-"

"Oh, I don't think they made it to motherfuckin' eat. I do, but you kinda just soak yourself in it, like your face."

"Then why do you eat it? There has to be some serious side effects for that."

"'Cause that's what causes the miracles to happen." He grins with his usual whimsicality and sits back down with you. "Sometimes I bake it into some mighty fine pies." You sigh and lay back with arms behind your head.

"Let's talk about something else. What's up with your brother?" You inquire. The teen scratches his neck and messes his dark hair.

"What about him?"

"Well, he didn't say a single word to me when I came in, it was a little weird."

"Oh, my bro didn't talk in over four years. Had somethin' to do with Sollux's bro, Mituna. No one really knows what went down, we just know it was something bad." He explained it so casually.

"Oh...That's-" you are interrupted by a knock on the door. Gamzee tells his brother to come in, which he does. Standing behind him is a familiar sight for you. A tall man with slicked back black hair and an eyepatch over his right eye. After catching a glimpse, you shoot up.

"Jack?" You are surprised, Jack didn't usually come looking for you. He glares at you slightly and jerks his head over his shoulder slightly, motioning you to come with him.

"We gotta go, kid. " says the man, turning on his heel. You quickly get up.

"Uhm...I'll see you tomorrow, Gamzee." You dither before following after yous guardian. You can see Kurloz gives you a smile and a wave before you go.

Once out of the house and into the car, you cross your arms and glare at Jack.

"What's your problem? I was just hanging out with Gamzee." You scowl at him.

"You didn't tell me where you were goin' kid. We've got enough to worry about, now if you were to disappear too, that would leave me in an awkward position. You don't want me in an awkward position, do you Karkat?" Jack chides while putting the key into the ignition and stepping on the gas pedal. "It's a fucked up world out there, your pop was smart to trust you with someone like me. You need to _tell _me when you leave the fuckin' house!"

"I find it hard to believe you're all of a sudden acting like you're the parent of the year. I mean where the hell do you go out all night with that stupid hat on?" You retort with a roll of your eyes. He clenches his teeth furiously.

"It's none of your business, kid." Jack hisses. You don't respond to him, looking out the window at the passing ocean instead. After a moment of silence, he speaks.

"What do you want me to do? I didn't sign up for this, that Libra Pyrope chick just called me up one day and said I had to look after you two idiots." You act like you aren't paying attention. He grumbles out a terse "whatever" and continues driving until you both arrive home.

Once through the door, you see that your brother is already waiting for you in the foyer. Kankri looks at you disapprovingly.

"What's the look for? You never tell him where you're going."

"Yes, but I at least act like-"

"Shut up. Both of you. I'm having my friends over, so stay away from us while we do our adult things. Alright? Go to bed or something." He snarls. Without a word, the two of you retreat upstairs, Kankri muttering to himself.

After two hours pass, you decide you are tired of wondering what he does with his friends all the time. If you can't have your freedom, why should he? You quietly open the door to the now dark upstairs hallway. After making your way downstairs, you find the basement door and press your ear against the door. It's a little muffled, however you can make out the voices clear enough.

"Felt's got our hideout's location. I saw Snowman through the window with Crowbar. What should we do about that, Slick?" Said a dark voice.

"We'll deal with that. The faster we kill 'em all, the better. When we kill 'em, we can get close to Snowman, and when we get close to snowman, we can figure out where Kankri went." It was Jack Noir's voice. Kankri is a family name. Your grandfather had it, your father has it, and your brother has it. With a raised eyebrow, you press your ear closer to the door, anxious to hear more.

"Why're you so sure Snowman has something to do with that guy?" Said a voice that was a little higher than the others.

"She likes to screw with me. She knows me, she knows he was my friend. It's exactly something Snowman would do. Besides, the sooner Kankri's back, the sooner I can go back and live at the hideout with you guys. One of you had to do something stupid to give out our location to the Felt. Until then, we'll plan here. Boxcars, you're in charge of getting as much guns and ammo as you can and stashing it down here. Droog, make sure none of those green bastards are around when you do it. If you see one, shoot them. Unless it's Snowman." A chair slides across the concrete. You were caught off guard when the door suddenly opened and you fell into the knees of a tall, brutish looking man.

"Hey boss, which one's this?" His voice was very deep. Jack rushed to the door and furiously.

"How much of that did you hear?"

"Enough to know that you where dad was this entire time."


	3. Chapter 3

Jack closes his eye in thought, considering how to respond to you. By now, two others came up. A short man with blond hair and a very tall, handsome man with dark skin and a tie. You are becoming impatient for an answer.

"Where. Is. He." You growl. Jack looks at you again.

"I don't know where he is, kid. I only know who has him. Snowman."

"Then report him to Pyrope!" You fume. This sudden information is causing your heart to beat out of your chest.

"First off, Snowman is a woman. Second, it's not that fuckin' simple. I'm not one to sit back and let someone else deal with my personal issues, especially not my personal issues with Snowman. Then there's the fact that if Pyrope finds out my connections with Snowman, she'll find out I'm a gang leader." He gave a look to the rest of them saying they should go. They cleared out of the house almost immediately.

"So? Wouldn't you do anything to get him back?! I can't believe this! The only person in the world who knows where he is, isn't doing shit to get him back!"

"SHUT THE HELL UP AND LISTEN." He screams. You are taken aback, for you have never seen him lose his cool like this before. However, you regain your angry disposition almost immediately. "I'm going to get him back, you hear me? I'd kill them all before I'd let them hurt a hair on his fuckin' head. I wouldn't be able to say that about my own parents, hell, I wouldn't be able to say that about my crew! There's not enough people like him, we're not letting him go." He turns away from you and runs a hand throw his ebony hair.

"Then do something about it!" You seethe. Jack cracks his neck, thinking of something to say to you. The only thing he decides to say is: "It's getting late. Don't you have school tomorrow, kid?"

That day, your anger seemed to succeed over every other emotion. Sollux didn't bother you today, almost sensing that you weren't going to be messed with. Again, on your way to homeroom, Terezi decided to try and trip you.

"I told you yesterday! STOP FUCKING TRIPPING ME. I mean, honestly, are you deaf too?! Watch out we got the next Helen fucking Keller here!" She simply looks at you...or rather simply faces you since her eyes obviously aren't doing much looking.

"Karkat, I have to say, that was highly offensive." The youngest Pyrope grins her evil grin. "You should apologize." You shake your head and feel as if you are about to pull your hair out.

"I'm not in a good mood and honestly-"

"Obviously, but you're always such a crab."

"HONESTLY, you are NOT helping!" You continue. Man, do you hate it when she interrupts you. You hate it when she talks to you. Right now, you would say you hate everything about her! She shrugs and grips her cane.

"I'm helping you more than you may know." Remarks Terezi.

"What does that even mean? I'm sooo done with your retarded riddles! I'm done with this fucking conversation! Goodbye, fuck you." Before she can say anything in response, you abscond into your homeroom. Great, you almost forgot. One nuisance after the other, Dave is there right next to your seat. You sit, praying he doesn't try to make conversation, but when he fails to even acknowledge your presence, you get a little infuriated. Who does this coll kid think he is? Can't he tell you are trying to ignore him?

"Hey shitstain!" You growl. Dave chuckles a little from the insult.

"Are you gonna come over this weekend, or no?" He looks totally indifferent to your anger.

"Like hell! I'd rather shit out large jagged pieces of glass than have the absolute displeasure of spending quality time with you and that fuckhead John!"

"So, I'll tell him you're coming then."

"I AM NOT GOING!" You yell. Strider laughs at you.

"Whatever man, I'll just get Terezi to come over. She didn't meet my bro yet. " He says with a shrug and puts his ipod away. Oh, the last thing you need right now is him gloating over his romance with Terezi.

"Why're you so pissed today?" He raises a brow at you before you can object to his spending time with Pyrope. Jack told you not to tell anyone this morning, which infuriated you more. However, if you were going to tell anyone, it would definitely not be this asshole! Before you can make a response, the bell rings. Without another word, you grabs your backpack and leave for your first period class.

At least you can talk to Gamzee about this. Gamzee can keep secrets, he is a good listener, and he can understand your situation. You sit in the chair next to his and he greets you with a wacky smile.

"Hey, best friend. You hear that we gotta pick clubs by the end of the week? Shit man, it's already Thursday and I ain't got no motherfucking clue." Your mind quickly grasps onto that subject. Through all your nightmares and worry, you haven't even thought about clubs. There was robotics, but that never really intrigued you much and it has Jade Harley as president. Guh, never. Sollux was planning on starting a programming club with the Computer Programing teacher. That was a definite maybe. Also book club seemed like something you could stomach.

"I'm either doing programing or the book club." You speak, still in thought. "Sollux is president of one...I wonder who is for the other." Gamzee's face lights up.

"Ooooooh man, bro! I'll start my own motherfucking club!" Makara grins. You give him a confused look.

"What kind of club could have the misfortune of having you as a club president?"

"Raping club bro! We could all up and bust out some sick ass rhymes, listen to music, all kinds of shit!" He looks rather excited.

"Sorry to rain on you weird circus clown parade, but I'm not sure if any teacher in there right mind would support something like rap club."

"Oh...then...Slam Poetry club! Aww yeah, we could get our slam on!" The teacher gets up to the front of the class room with a smile and begins. Unfortunately, you forgot to talk to Gamzee about your feelings.

The class period goes smoothly. First grammar, then vocabulary, then onto a reading lesson. When the bell rings, you move onto Computer Programming, an elective you decided to take with Sollux. The whole thing interests you, but you are really bad at it, or at least that's what Sollux tells you. You sit at the Computer between his and Kankri's. You have no clue why your brother chose this class, or why he decided to sit next to you. Probably to bother you. You are almost certain he sat there to bother you.

"Hello Karkat." He speaks as you sit. You slouch grumpily and sign into your computer.

"I heard you and Jack yelling at eachother, why was that?"

"I'll tell you when we get home." You grumble.

"Oh, so that's why you're so pissed today. You had a fight with Jack." Sollux grinned.

"How about it's none of your fucking business, okay?" You hiss at your friend.

"KK, you know all you need to do is talk it out with him, you look up to him. But instead you're coming to school and getting fuckong angry at everyone who even talks you you lile a fucking-"

"You don't know what happened, therefore you don't understand. It's not even about that."

You alienated everyone for the rest of the school day. You intended on figuring some of this out for yourself. If it meant finding this Snowman lady yourself, then so be it. But the question was how.

Once inside your own house, Kankri closes the door quickly.

"So, what was the fight about." Kankri asks.

"Okay. Jack's in a gang, and he knows where dad is, he always knew. Some rival gang has him. Kankri's eyes widen as he is taken aback from this knowledge. He is uncharacteristically silent. You don't pay any more attention to him and walk to the kitchen where you see an odd sight. Jack is standing by the counter with a knife in his hand, stabbing what looks to be the remains of a sad looking pumpkin.

"Um. What the hell are you doing?"

"It's almost Halloween, ain't it? What does it look like I'm doin'?"

"It looks like you're fucking around." He glares at you.

"You're a fuckin' kid. Now act like it for pete's sake! Grab a pumpkin and get carvin'." You roll your eyes and refuse to participate. Jack continues to stab the pumpkin. You think he's doing it wrong, however seeing his frustration makes you feel a little better.

"Droog and Boxcars came back today with good news." Slick throws down the knife and smirks at you teethily.

"Who?" You never were properly introduced to the rest of his gang.

"Diamonds Droog is the tall dark scary lookin' guy. Hearts Boxcars is the big brawny one. Might as well mention Clubs Deuce who's the small one." He speaks rather quickly. "Anyway,"

"And you are?" You interrupt.

"Spades Slick. Now shut the fuck up and listen to the good news." Slick growls. "They took out the two Felt bastards who were fucking around in OUR hideout. And the weapons and ammo were out just in time. We each have our own methods of fighting, guns are only a-"

"They actually KILLED them? Like murder." You sputter as he looks at you with the eyebrow above his injured eye raised.

"I told you I wanted to kill them all. Bastards deserve it. Don't feel bad about it."

"Can't you just talk to her?! I don't see what the problem is here."

"Don't be so retarded about it, Karkat. Do you think I could just invite her over for a cup of tea. It's difficult between us." This time it is you giving him a look, suggesting that he should explain. Noir growls at you.

"Yeah, yeah, we had a fling. Alright? We were professional about it, not letting feelings get in the way of the rival gang business. She's the one who cut it off. Grr, wait why am I telling you this?" He spat the last part.

"Oh, great, you were reenacting West Side Story." You tease. Jack glares and turns to the side door.

"I'm goin' out for groceries or some shit. Bye, kid." He left, leaving behind his pumpkin mess and soaked knife. You suppose this is your job to clean it up.

About ten minute later, after you finished cleaning up the mess, there is a knock on the door.

"Kankri! Get the door!" You yell to him. He is probably sitting with his laptop in his room like he usually is. "KANKRI!" Again there is no response. With a roll of your eyes, you open the door. There stood a tall woman with platinum blond hair down to her shoulders and a red trench coat. You recognize this woman to be Terezi's mother. Libra Firinn Pyrope. You always thought this was a horribly stupid name, so you tend to just refer to her as Officer Pyrope. What could possibly bring her here?

"I have good news for you." She coos in a sing-songy manner.

"What is it?" You ask. The officer simply holds up a small metal necklace with the cancer sign of the zodiac. This belonged to your father.


	4. Chapter 4

Your parents told you this story quite fondly when you were very young. It was their anniversary, Kankri Amos Vantas and Florence Helena Wilson had been courting eachother for exactly a year now. However, instead of celebrating as they planned to with the cliched romantic dinner and possibly a movie, Florence had fallen ill. Kankri gave up his dinner reservations and spent the entire night with her. Right before he finally saw that she was well enough to go home, he gave her a silver necklace with her zodiac sign and her name engraved in the back.

After they were married, she got very upset over something (they had never told you what the issue was) and abandoned the necklace given to her by her beloved in a glass at a diner. Kankri, completely torn up about their disagreement, took a walk in the park the next day. This is where he found the necklace. They both took this as a miracle, some otherworldly thing telling them that they were meant to stay with eachother. They had no fights since.

Stories aside, you believe not in miracles. You do not believe in anything with any higher power. For when you were six and your brother was eight, your mother was diagnosed with cancer far too late for it to be helped. Your last memories of her were of her wasting away in the hospital bed they set up for her in your home. Her hair was gone from all of the treatments. All she seemed to do was sleep. Every day your father, a religious man, would pray with you and your brother for a miracle. Florence Helena Vantas died in her sleep a month before your brother's ninth birthday. Ever since that day, your father wore her necklace and never took it off.

You hold the chain above you and let the symbol dangle in front of your face. This was his, your mother's maiden name inscribed on it was proof enough.

"Someone found it while on the beach. I think your father left it there." Officer Pyrope grinned. You do not respond. There was no chance in hell that he would willingly take off the necklace.

"He's dead isn't he?" You quiver. Kankri sits beside you staring at the necklace as well. Libra shakes her head.

"No, no. And I'll have you know that the only prints found on it are his and the woman who brought it in. We've interrogated her, but she has nothing to do with his disappearance. Which means..." she gestures to the two of you to make your own theories.

"He took it off himself. He planted it as a clue." Says Kankri. The woman pushes up her red sunglasses (not unlike the ones her youngest daughter wears)and nods.

"Exactly my thinking. The perpetrator or perpetrators were on the beach, Kankri- I mean your dad took it off. Now, last week, there was a heavy storm. It was found two days ago. If it would have been washed away if it was there for longer than last week. Which means he's been surviving this long, so whoever has him, has him for a purpose." She sat on the chair across from you and took off her glasses, revealing her teal eyes. "We got everything we could take from the necklace. You can keep it. At least until daddy comes home and wants it back." Officer Pyrope giggled. Your eyes return to it once more.

"Where's Jack?" She asks, making herself comfortable in the chair.

"He got irritated or something and went to the store." At the moment, you are not comfortable talking about Jack with her. Not a word. Not a single word to anyone. Especially not her. However, Kankri was fidgeting next to you, apparently anxious to tell her. He was okay at keeping secrets, however with important information such as this, you are not so sure.

"Tell him I'm watching him." She says with a wink, "No funny business." Then she stands and returns her red sunglasses back to her face. Libra grins at you and your brother.

"Take care of yourselves." Then she leaves.

"We should have told her." Kankri began, "I mean, this is very important to the police. Our dad would want us to tell Ms. Pyrope. Why would you protect Jack over our own father? If you could reasonably answer that then I-"

"Jesus, Kankri! If Jack's taken away, what the fuck are we gonna do?! No one else will take care of us. Where the hell will we go?" Kankri rolls his eyes at you and crosses his arms.

"If you're going to be the way you normally are, then so be it. Until then, I'll continue being the civil one." He makes his way through the doorway and practically runs into Jack. Jack glares a little at him.

"I ran into Libra. Why was she here?" He fixes his eyepatch as he speaks. You waste no time in getting right to business, lifting the necklace far up to his eye level. It takes him a moment to realize, but when he does, his eye goes wide.

"You need to get him. Fast." You speak sternly.

"Don't order me, kid." He begins with a growl, then rubbing his temples, he continues, "I'll tell the crew to make plans to get the Felt Mansion tonight. Not gonna be a picnic though...damn clocks...just thinking about all that ticking at once is givin' me a headache." He pushes past Kankri and pulls out his cellphone.

"I'm gonna make some calls. You kids can stay if you want, I don't fuckin' care."

In about a half hour, the rest of the Midnight Crew show up. First Clubs Deuce who is the smallest in the group. Jack tells you that he is the demolitions expert. Next is the tall black man known by Diamonds Droog. He appears to be rather intimidating with his dark voice and angry face. Finally enters the brutish man, even taller than Droog who you know as Hearts Boxcars.

"Now that everyone's here, we can get down to business." Jack sits down and makes himself comfortable, much like everyone else in the room (excluding yourself and Kankri who are a little nervous to have a group of gangsters in your living room). "We're gonna take down the Felt's mansion tonight." Deuce perks up in his seat.

"So what is the plan, boss?" He grins.

"We're goin' in separately. Boxcars goes through the back, Droog and Deuce take the sides. That leaves me with the front. We're gonna kill all those fuckers. Okay? So far we got Matchsticks. You guys just killed Crowbar and Quarters. That just means less work for tonight. Leave Snowman to me. Do NOT kill her." Noir explained. Kankri glanced at all of the unfamiliar faces around the room.

"I'm coming along too. This is too important to me to sit back from. It is my duty as his eldest son to bring him home safely." Laughter from the crew followed. You scowl at them.

"So am I." You announce. The laughter grew.

"So the sweaterkid and the pipsqueak are gonna come along fer the ride? Haha! Yer kiddin' me! They wouldn't last five seconds!" Boxcars roars. Finishing up his own chuckle, Jack spoke.

"You're not goin' anywhere. It's a school night!" He continues to double over laughing. When everyone finally stops, Jack stands.

"Grab your hats, we're gonna kill them sons of bitches."

Your name is Jack Noir, but to your crew you are known as Spades Slick. As you approach the front of the mansion alone, you feel no anxiety whatsoever. Kankri is here. You can feel it in your gut. Maybe if you're lucky, you'll also get a jab at killing the gang's leader, Lord English. Man, did this gang ruin pool for you forever. Opening the door, you are immediately greeted with halls upon halls filled with ticking. Spectacular. All you could possibly want right now is a plethora of ticking in your ears. NOT. You proceed to break the clocks as you walk by them, taking pleasure in each one's dead silence.

Suddenly, you hear a soft swish of feet on the hardwood floor. You think that this is Itchy. Like your crew, the Felt recruited its members based on certain talents. These talents sometimes make them much more difficult to defeat, but usually they have something to lack for it. Itchy is incredibly fast on his feet, however his reaction time is a bit lacking. This allows you to grab him, flip him on his back, and have your way with him. An iron horse hitcher leans against the wall as a decoration.

With a grin, you quickly grab it and hit him as hard as you can in the face with it. Itchy let's out a grunt as he is smacked. You do it once more and you hear a large crack. Itchy's skull broke, you can actually see the fatal blow's damage on the back of his head. Great, so far everything is going according to plan. Your walkie talkie recieves a message from Clubs Deuce.

"Boss! I have captured Doze." He says triumphantly, "I will question him about your friend."

"He ain't gonna say shit. That's why they recruited him, you idiot." You sigh. It's no use, you know Deuce loves to interrogate people. You think it's because he sees it more as a game than as work. He always does something silly with explosives that ends up killing them in the end, so there's no use in telling him not to do it. Clubs doesn't respond, so you simply shrug it off. It's not important. You continue down the hall, set on getting to Snowman's chambers.

"That asshole had it coming to him." You turn. You are greeted with the sight of Die. Odd fellow in a trench coat.

"Bastard always cheats at poker." He cackles. You're not one for banter before you kill someone. You prefer to just kill the person. You approach him and hit him with the hitcher. He stumbles back, but refuses to fall back.

"It'll take more than that to kill me. " smirks Die. You lift an eyebrow and wait for him to make a move. He lunges towards you and disarms you, sending the horse hitcher clattering to the ground. Die manages to get a few punches in, but this only manages to piss you off. From your pocket you wield your trusty knife and slice his throat open before he can deliver another punch. Die stumbles backward, gurgling blood from his mouth. Once he falls, you call your friends up on the radio.

"I killed Itchy. And made Die live up to his name..." you chuckle to yourself then instantly kick yourself for not using that banter while he was talking to you. This is exactly what's wrong with you, you always come up with the good stuff AFTER they're dead. You shake it off and continue, "What's the status with everyone?"

"I injured Fin, I'm currently following his trail." Speaks Diamonds Droog.

"I ran into Eggs and Biscuits. Deuce, I could really use yer help here!" Boxcars reports.

"And I still have Doze under my watch!"

"Good. At this rate we'll have Snowman in no time. Clubs, finish the job with Doze. Stop wasting time with him. Go help Boxcars."

"Trace is here! Uhhhh, Droog, I will help you out!" No more talking on the radio was heard. About three minutes after Clubs' last message, you hear a large explosion from the side of the mansion. You quickly talk into the radio again with a grin.

"Your doing, Deuce?" You chuckle.

"I have left a little present on Doze before I left. It took out Trace too!" You have never been so proud of him. Well, as proud as a notorious gang leader can get. You don't let it show too much. You spend a little time in the hallways, but you run into no trouble. Soon Boxcars' voice is heard through the radio.

"Spades get yer scrawny ass down here! It's a fuckin' bedlam in here!"

"I thought you told Clubs to get down there twenty minutes ago!" You growl.

"Surprise surprise! He's no where to be found! Get down here!" You groan and adjust your hat.

"I'll be down. Hold on. Droog, when your done with Fin, come down for support."

"Got it. Deuce is trailing Fin. I'll let him do that. You might as well count him dead. I pumped Fin so full of lead, it's a fuckin' miracle he can still walk." Droog replies with a snicker, "I have some unfinished business with Stitch. It'll be simple enough. When I'm done with that, I'll support you guys."

"Roger all that." You grin before putting the radio down. On your way to Hearts Boxcars' location, Sawbuck gets in your way. He is very fat, and you never had a clue why the undefeated Lord English would hire him. He is a good fighter, but...there is no time to dwell on it, Jack! He pulls a double edged sword on you. So this is going to be how he plays it. You get close enough to slash his face with your knife. It phases him for only a few seconds before he makes a swing at you. The tip of Sawbuck's sword scratches your arm.

"You're gettin' slower, Slick. When Snowman took your eye, did she take the fight out of you too?" You simply glare and hold your arm, thinking of something to say. Again, you are at a loss for words. Man, if only you could end this anxiety and slice his throat like Die. Sawbuck swings once more, however this time you duck and reach for it from his hand. You struggle it from his grasp and impale him.

"Fighting with me. It's a double edged sword." You whisper in his ear as he bleeds out.

"That...was...pathetic..." he says on his dying breath. You immediately relinquish the sword and facepalm. It was pathetic. What did that even mean? Suddenly you think of something to say.

"Slow? Tell that to your friends I just killed. Aw, damn it all to hell, I don't even fucking care anymore." You decide to just give up and continue making your way to Boxcars.

"Just thought you should know, Spades, that while you were fuckin' around up there, Droog and Deuce shot up the place. Everything's fine now." Growls Boxcars over the radio. "Shit! Is that Stitch? I thought you said you killed him!"

You open the door just in time and stab him in the through the neck. Stitch falls and you grin at the rest of your crew.

"So...that's twelve outta fifteen." You say with a fleer. "Bastards had it comin'."

"Usually Snowman shows up by now." Remarks Droog.

"What?"

"Don't you find it odd that since usually if we kill one of the members, she shows up, but now she didn't?" Diamonds explained.

"Yer right. Even when we knew she wasn't around yesterday she showed up." Boxcars contemplates.

"That's because she knows you're lookin' for her!" Smiles a man as tall as Clubs Deuce. You know him as Clover. He's a lucky son of a bitch, that's what he's known for. You got him on too many situations to count, but miraculously he is still alive. "The doctor would like to see you in his office."

He leads you all to "the doctor" he spoke of. You know of Doc Scratch, however you have never met face to face with him.

"This better not be a trap." You sneer. Clover grins back at you.

"What do I have to gain from lying to you?" He says with a smile. You narrow your eyes at him.

"Revenge, or just the satisfaction of saying 'hey, you know the one who put an end to the Midnight Crew? That was me.'"

"Then don't come along." You continue to follow him despite this. You all find yourself in front of the door. Before he has a chance to knock, the door swings open. On the other side of the doorway stands a fine looking gentleman. He appears to be in his mid-fifties, and has all white hair.

"Please come in, sit down, make yourselves at home. I bought candy for the occasion. " Scratch takes a step to the side and gestures for you to come in with a smile. Deuce wastes no time walking in and tasting the candy he spoke of. In the far corner, a Japanese woman works on sewing.

"She's my handmaid, no need to pay too much attention to her." You enter the room and almost immediately spot Snowman sitting on one of the couches, crosslegged and smoking a cigarette.

"Hey, got an extra one?" Droog chuckles. She flicks her ashes into an ash tray and tosses one to him.

"Please, please sit down so that we may start our conversation."


End file.
